/m/rays

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I'm sure Rays fans feel much like A's fans did after 2003 but I think this is the best run team in baseball. They should be disappointed today but they do a hell of a job. Ask the Mariners or the Royals what they would sacrifice to a string of first round outs in the playoffs.

The Ray's getting cold is getting old?
They're in the welfare line, all of the time!
When nobody attends they make the league make amends!Ownership is ashamed that he's welfare-sustained.
The Rays cannot stand out without endless handouts.
The hole as been dug. It's time to pull the plug.

No list of hateable Rays is complete without the addition of Fernando Rodney and his arrow act to it - a truly execrable piece of showboating that eventually infected the rest of the team every time they got a freaking hit.

I hate the Rays. I can't like them if their own fanbase can't be bothered to come out and like them.

They get very good TV ratings. Their stadium is a dump and not easy to get to for most of the metro area. I'd give their fans a break, though the lack of seats sold does keep them from being able to afford the team.

Price is arb eligible and going to get paid, but he's not a FA until 2016, right? Seems like the Rays could work out a long term deal there if they wanted to. Of course, given that he's not a FA until 2016 that means he's probably got a ton of trade value, how often does one of the 20 best pitchers in baseball become available? Even in his down years he's still been a 3 WAR pitcher, on the open market that's 18m a year.

It gets down to "The enemy of my enemy is my friend" more than anything else.

I suspect that the biggest part of the Rays "fan base" consists of Yankees fans rooting for the Rays to beat the Red Sox, and Red Sox fans rooting for the Rays to beat the Yankees. Take those two groups away and the Rays would be competing with teams like Oakland and Kansas City for fans' affections, and probably not making out all that well.

I suspect that the biggest part of the Rays "fan base" consists of Yankees fans rooting for the Rays to beat the Red Sox, and Red Sox fans rooting for the Rays to beat the Yankees. Take those two groups away and the Rays would be competing with teams like Oakland and Kansas City for fans' affections, and probably not making out all that well.

You forgot about everyone who hates BOTH the Red Sox and Yankees and would cheer for Satan if he beat them. And everyone who likes the underdog, dealing with twin Goliaths (admittedly a large overlap with the haters).

I suspect that the biggest part of the Rays "fan base" consists of Yankees fans rooting for the Rays to beat the Red Sox, and Red Sox fans rooting for the Rays to beat the Yankees.

You forgot about everyone who hates BOTH the Red Sox and Yankees and would cheer for Satan if he beat them. And everyone who likes the underdog, dealing with twin Goliaths (admittedly a large overlap with the haters).

I said "biggest part", not "the entire part". Take away the "enemy of my enemy" meme, and the Rays are just another version of the A's, only with a much less interesting history and a local fan base that's even more fickle. In this just-completed series, I found myself alternately pulling for the Red Sox (to make for a better ALCS and WS) and the Rays (to prolong the series and set up a 5th game sudden death situation). Last night I was pulling for the Rays, but if they'd forced a 5th game I'm not sure which way I would've wanted it to go. I always like to see Red Sox fans suffer, but I still can't quite get into the idea of the World Series being played in a ####### dome, let alone in an armpit like Florida.

Wait, aren't any of y'all positive about Evan Longoria and Ben Zobrist? (How could anybody not be positive about Ben Zobrist? I ask you.)

I love Longo. He's a great, great player. Zobrist impresses me, but I don't love him the same way I do Longoria. Wil Myers is neat and should be very good. I also like Price, Moore, and Cobb, and I really liked James Shields. Jose Molina is fun to watch on the basepaths.

I'm really hoping the Rays and Orioles stay good, and the Blue Jays finally round into shape. Then the AL East will remain very exciting and I can hope the aging Yankees collapse into a half decade or more of miserable last place finishes as the punching bag of the division.

As a full season ticket holder for the Rays from 2007 to present, I can assure you I'd much rather have opposing teams hating them for their lack of fan support than for a valid, on-field baseball reason. Its also preferable to be disliked for lack of attendance than dismissed for lack of on-field success.

I think it's flashbacks to the late-80s/early-90s but I can't stand the Blue Jays. They definitely would be the team I least want to succeed in the division other than the Yankees. I was delighted by their collapse this year. Of course I still twitch with rage at the name "Junior Felix", man I couldn't stand him for some reason.

Myers didn't start hitting in Durham until late May; the Rays really didn't cost themselves anything by leaving him there.

This is not a young team offensively. Myers and Desmond Jennings are the only key hitters under the age of 27. And now that Myers is in the majors the Rays have no good hitting prospects on the horizon. I'm a Tim Beckham booster but he's more likely to be a replacement for Sean Rodriguez than an all-around regular middle infielder. Hak-Ju Lee lost this season to a knee injury, so you have to wonder how that will impact his game (how much it will cut into his range). None of the prospect hitters (Vettleson, Shaffer, Glaesmann) had a particularly good year although Ryan Brett and Andrew Toles took some small steps forward; there doesn't appear to be an impact bat anywhere in the system. The Rays' offense has always been more than the sum of its parts (it's actually been above-average, masked to some extent by the park), they usually come up with a Loney out of nowhere every year, and they've got pitchers out the wazoo, but at some point they've got to develop some actual young hitters in the system.

I can hope the aging Yankees collapse into a half decade or more of miserable last place finishes as the punching bag of the division.

You can always spot a loser by such bitter-spat bile
To see winner lose, that makes all losers smile
To be winners themselves, that's a cause secondary
Every time winners fail, that's what makes them quite merry
And they whine, and they cry, and they say "It ain't fair!"
"That the winner's up here, but I'm still stuck down there!"
Their bootstraps are lacking, they've no gumption at all
All losers live for is for winners to fall.
They take joy in such suffering! They relish such defeats!
They savor the aroma of bicycle seats!
Losers lack fortitude, they've no guts and no heart.Haters gonna hate, their motto from the start.

This is not a young team offensively. Myers and Desmond Jennings are the only key hitters under the age of 27. And now that Myers is in the majors the Rays have no good hitting prospects on the horizon. I'm a Tim Beckham booster but he's more likely to be a replacement for Sean Rodriguez than an all-around regular middle infielder. Hak-Ju Lee lost this season to a knee injury, so you have to wonder how that will impact his game (how much it will cut into his range). None of the prospect hitters (Vettleson, Shaffer, Glaesmann) had a particularly good year although Ryan Brett and Andrew Toles took some small steps forward; there doesn't appear to be an impact bat anywhere in the system. The Rays' offense has always been more than the sum of its parts (it's actually been above-average, masked to some extent by the park), they usually come up with a Loney out of nowhere every year, and they've got pitchers out the wazoo, but at some point they've got to develop some actual young hitters in the system.

That may be the case, but we all know the Rays will develop another 15 potential Cy Young candidates next year and have them all pitch well enough to make up for any offensive decline. At some point their pitching pipeline will run dry, right?

I've never understood why anyone would decide to like or dislike a team based on their fan support. I don't care how many people go see the Rays; I find them an easy team to root for. (Sure, I was surprised to learn the Astros outdrew them this year). Of course I'm inclined to pull for the underdog and all that, but I'm also not any more likely to hate the Yankees and Red Sox because of their large fan bases.

I'm amazed at those of you who stayed up to watch the end of last night's game. I went to bed at 11 PM EST, when it was 1-0 Tampa Bay. My son had a nightmare and started crying around midnight, which got me out of bed. I checked my iPod quickly to see the final score -- and it was still in the bottom of the 8th, 3-1 Boston.

Somebody obviously doesn't watch much baseball. Every player on every team now looks to the dugout and makes some sort of choreographed gesture after every hit.

I don't get this. If I were a MLB player, I'd know I was really good as baseball and every time I got a hit I'd act like it was supposed to happen. I'd be very nonchalant, like hey, what did you expect. Now a walkoff grand slam...that I'd get excited about.

Hate meter, mostest hate at the top...
NY-just because
small gap
Baltimore-admired them in the 70's, the Showalter factor looms large
gap
Tampa-more envy then anything else, where do they find all those good, young pitchers...all the f*cking time.
gap
Toronto-eh, they're Canadian, I can't really hate anything Canandian.

I'm amazed at those of you who stayed up to watch the end of last night's game. I went to bed at 11 PM EST, when it was 1-0 Tampa Bay. My son had a nightmare and started crying around midnight, which got me out of bed. I checked my iPod quickly to see the final score -- and it was still in the bottom of the 8th, 3-1 Boston.

I was gone after the 3rd inning since I get up at 4:45 AM. I did stay up for the entire game against Texas and Cleveland but there was no way in hell I was going to go that short on sleep again for a non-deciding (well, not deciding in a favorable way) game. Actually if the Rays had won and they played at 8 or 8:30 again tonight I highly doubt I'd be staying up any later than normal for it, #### just goes on too long.

Edit: Oh, and this column's existence was predictable but is still stupid. Half the teams that play in the ALDS have to lose and considering the marginal difference that team quality between playoff teams makes over a 5-game series (though the Red Sox were the better team this year anyway) the likelihood of any particular team going home is pretty damn close to 50%.